AOC weighs in on GOP primary battle: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has an opinion about why Ron DeSantis has failed to gain traction against Donald Trump
AOC Has Thoughts
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was thought as recently as late 2022 as a formidable challenger to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, has been crashing and burning, even before he got in the race. The impression given is that the more voters have seen DeSantis, the less they have liked him.
Now, Rep. AOC has weighed in on the GOP race.
Appearing on MSNBC for an interview with White House Press Secretary-turned-host Jen Psaki, the Congresswoman known as AOC was asked about the presidential race, and more specifically which Republican candidate would be “easier” for President Biden to run against.
“The dynamics of these races change from day to,” AOC said. “I think that Gov. DeSantis has made some very large critical errors, and I think he’s weaker.” Asked what that errors were, AOC answered that “you can’t out-Trump Trump.”
She also cited DeSantis’ “attacks on teachers, on schools, on LGBT Americans, I think go way too far in the state of Florida, and I think that they are profound political miscalculation and an overcompensation. He may be trying to win a base, but that base belongs to Donald Trump. And he has sacrificed I think the one thing that others may have thought would make him competitive, which is the idea that he would somehow be more rational than Donald Trump, which he isn’t.”
When asked if there is anyone in the Republican presidential field who may have an idea she agrees with, AOC answered that in Congress as in the presidential race, “I think right now the Republican Party is so disorganized, that I really don’t see someone that can unite that party, even beyond Donald Trump… the individuals that have wanted to appeal to people’s cooler senses in the Party have all been driven out. Every single Republican who voted for impeachment is no longer there.”
That is true in the House, although several Senate Republicans who voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — are still in the Senate.
DeSantis also got some bad press from someone one would think might be receptive to his message- New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, a “never Trump” conservative who would appear an ideal supporter of a non-Trump conservative candidate.
“I guess my main takeaway is that DeSantis isn’t going to be the next president,” Stephens wrote in a back-and-forth with fellow columnist Gail Collins. “He makes Trump seem tolerant, Ted Cruz seem likable, Mitch McConnell seem moderate, Lauren Boebert seem mature and Rick Santorum seem cool. Not what I would have expected out of the Florida governor six months ago, but here’s where I confess: You were right about him, and I was wrong.”
According to the latest tracking poll from Morning Consult, which was released on Tuesday, DeSantis remains in second place, but at 17 percent, he now has the lowest support that he has had at any point since the poll launched in late 2022. Trump still has the lead, with 56 percent, while Vivek Ramaswamy has taken over third place with 8 percent, ahead of Mike Pence with 7 percent. Trump, DeSantis, and Pence had held the top three spots, in that order, since the poll’s launch.
DeSantis has also fallen way behind in a hypothetical matchup with President Biden in the general election. DeSantis, however, has said “Forget the polls” in reference to questions about his standing in the presidential race.
“DeSantis trails Biden by 5 percentage points in a hypothetical general election match-up and hasn’t outperformed the incumbent since March,” Morning Consult said. “Trump trails Biden by 1 point, down from a 3-point lead late last month.”
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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